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Tinie Tempah scrapped dozens of songs for Youth

Tinie Tempah scrapped almost 100 songs before deciding on the final tracklist for his new album.

The 'Pass Out' hitmaker has revealed it took him so long to finish his eagerly-anticipated record 'Youth' because he wanted to make sure his new tracks were perfect.

Speaking to Radio 1Xtra's Charlie Sloth, he said: "It takes a long time to make an album. A lot of people don't know this. You end up making two or three albums to make one album. I've done like a 100 songs to make this one of 13/14 [tracks]."

The 28-year-old rapper's follow-up to 2013's 'Demonstration' has been three years in the making and he has been playing it to everyone close to him at his studio in Greenwich, north London.

He said: "I just play it to people - my little brother, my cousin, the 'mandem', girls - anyone who comes through my studio in Greenwich. They tell me what they like and I kind of work off of that."

And he has described it as his "love letter to London".

He explained: "Ultimately I'm a 28 year old black boy from south London who wanted to make it off rapping and I've got to the point now where I feel like it's time for me to just tell that story.

"It's going through all of the phases of being young, of being me in south east London growing up."

The forthcoming record includes collaborations with Jess Glynne on 'Not Letting Go', Katy B on 'Turn The Music Louder', 'Girls Like' featuring Zara Larsson and 'Mamacita' with Wizkid.